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Hockey

Tokarski gives Canadiens life, win against Rangers in Game 3

Montreal Canadiens goalie Dustin Tokarski covers the puck as defenceman Nathan Beaulieu pushes New York Rangers right wing Derek Dorsett during Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference final at Madison Square Garden in New York, May 22, 2014. (ANDY MARLIN/USA Today)

He proved it again Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, keeping his team in a game the Canadiens ultimately won 3-2 in overtime to fight their way into contention in the Eastern Conference final.

It’s only one night, granted, and one desperate victory for a team that had been struggling. But the young Saskatchewan native took Broadway by storm and as a result, allowed the desperate Habs to cut the Rangers’ lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1.

“When you make the decision (to start him in place of injured Carey Price), you know the kid is a winner,” Canadiens coach Michel Therrien said following the wild conclusion to Thursday’s contest. “You know the kid is a battler.

“Without Tokarski’s performance, probably the result would have been different.”

No probably to it, coach.

The stellar 35-save performance from the 24-year-old helped set the stage for the dramatic final three minutes of regulation and abbreviated overtime. Alex Galchenyuk scored the game winner just 1:12 into the extra period when a Tomas Plekanec pass bounced off his chest and behind Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.

Tokarski’s brilliant night was nearly spoiled late late in regulation when a puck snuck past him after it bounded off the skate of Alexei Emelin with just 28 seconds remaining. Only two and a half minutes earlier, the Habs had taken their first lead of the game when Daniel Briere jammed a loose puck past Lundqvist.

Without Tokarski, however, Briere’s goal would have been irrelevant and there certainly wouldn’t have been overtime.

“Any time you get an opportunity, you want to seize it,” said Tokarski, who came on in relief of Price, who was injured in Game 1. “You want to do your best. The one thing on the mind is this series and we’re trying to win the best-of-seven right now.

Tokarski didn’t actually stand on his head, but there were moments where it seemed like it, particularly on a pair of big saves off the stick of Rangers sniper Martin St. Louis.

In the second period, with St. Louis parked at the side of the net and about to bury the puck high, Tokarski’s left pad darted out of nowhere to make the save. Then in the final minute of regulation with St. Louis in the same spot, it was the glove hand that made the snag.

“It’s definitely up there for sure,” Tokarski said when asked where the win fits on his career highlight reel. “It’s the Stanley Cup playoffs — it’s what you dream about — especially in overtime.”

The win snapped a five-game Rangers win streak this playoff that included a comeback to upset the Pittsburgh Penguins in the previous round then a sweep of Games 1 and 2 in Montreal.

One game won’t cement the kid’s reputation, but given the stakes and the gloom in hockey-mad Montreal following those two losses, Tokarski’s star soared on Thursday. The next step will be to see if the team’s confidence climbs with it. The Habs were outplayed dramatically throughout the first two periods, but with kid in net fulfilling every coach’s wish for a backup, they persevered.

“He has great composure for a young guy,” Canadiens forward Brian Gionta said. “It’s a tough situation for him to step into and he has handled it extremely well.”

The game itself had some nastiness early on. First, the Habs’ Brandon Prust clocked Derek Stepan with an open-ice hit that involved the puck nowhere near him and a shot to the head. It also didn’t involve a penalty call, although expect the league disciplinary department to have a second look on Friday.

Next was a goon play from a notorious cheap-shot artist, the Rangers’ Daniel Carcillo, whose attempt at retribution was to ram Prust into the end boards. That led to a charging penalty and a game misconduct when he pushed linesman Scott Driscoll.

It also resulted in the NHL playoff rarity — a full-on scrap between Prust and Derek Dorsett.

The spark the Habs so desperately needed, especially with the struggles from star players such as defenceman P.K. Subban, didn’t came from feistiness, however.

Instead, it came from a young goaltender who is cool enough to keep on living the dream. And the more he wins, the more people are going to love him. When asked what he would say if someone told him a week ago that he would be starting and winning a game in the Eastern Conference final, Tokarski released his inner Saskatchewan.

“I’d think they had a little too much to drink or something,” Tokarski said. “But that’s what the sport’s all about. You never know what’s going to happen.”

HABS BOUNCE BACK IN OT

Generally, hockey doesn’t work this way, that one bad bounce leads to a good one.

But that’s exactly what happened to the Montreal Canadiens, who lost a lead on an own-goal late in regulation, then scored the game winner early in overtime on Thursday when a puck bounced off the upper body of forward Alex Galchenyuk and behind New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

“To be honest, I have no idea what happened,” said Galchenyuk, who had driven hard to the crease and was looking for a rebound. “I was going to the net and (Tomas Plekanec) hit the puck. He put it on net and it hit me and went in.

“And the celebration started from there.”

It almost wasn’t necessary, either. After the Canadiens had taken a 2-1 lead with 3:01 remaining, the Rangers tied it up with just 28.1 seconds on the Madison Square Garden clock on a goal that went in off the skate of Montreal’s Alexei Emelin.

“It was tough coming back in the locker room, but we focused,” Galchenyuk said. “We have character here and we bounced back.”